"But I still say it's amazing even if you don't think so," Atlas said, smiling up at his boyfriend. He loved calm and isolated places like this even if he never went to any. He just never knew of any, but now he does and it holds a special value. "Hey… we should get going, what do you have that we could eat for breakfast?"
Nikolas dipped his head down and lightly kissed Atlas' lips, mumbling against them, "I have a couple boxes of pop-tarts, cereal, toast can be safely made, as well as scrambled eggs. That's about the extent of my cooking ability," he added with a soft laugh, resting his forehead against Atlas', "Take your pick."
"Well, I can't cook anything without making it burnt, undercooked, or causing a fire, so either you should do any cooking or we should just have some pop-tarts," Atlas said, giggling. He wasn't lying, that's the thing. In his foods class in high school, he started a fire while cooking french toast and the fire department came even though he put out the fire with an excessive spray of the fire extinguisher. After that, he vowed never to cook anything ever again.
"Let's just grab some pop-tarts so we can eat them on the way over," he said, grinning at Atlas' giggles. "I can only imagine the havoc Tess is wreaking right now. Poor Cin can only take so much." He laughed, then cupped Atlas' face in his hands and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. "Sound good to you?" he asked, tipping his head to the side in question. Nikolas wasn't much of a cook, what with his childhood, but he did pick up on a few things thanks to the kitchen-savvy twins. Tess, on the other hand, was not to be trusted around anything involving flames. Who knows what would happen, accidental or intentional.
Atlas nodded, "That sounds like a good idea, the sooner we get there the better probably… even though we're pretty late as it is." He leaned up and instead kissed Nikolas' lips, smiling while doing so. With some effort, he pulled away completely, heading to the kitchen. However when he got there he just kind of stood in place, looking around, not sure where anything was.
Nikolas watched Atlas go with a hint of amusement, lips curled up into a smirk. It didn't take long for Atlas to realize he had no clue where anything was. Nikolas chuckled quietly to himself, then came up to his boyfriend and lightly tugged on his shirt to direct him to the cupboard. "Right here, babe," he teased with a smile, ruffling the man's hair, then turned and grabbed his phone off of the island to call Tess as he had said he'd do earlier.
Atlas giggled again, following Nikolas to the cupboard. He didn't like to just rummage in other people's cupboards and closets without knowing it was okay. And at this point, he shouldn't be worried when it came to Nikolas, but he still was that way. But he grabbed on of the boxes of pop-tarts and opened it, grabbing a pack out for himself and Nikolas.
Nikolas clicked on the first number he had on speed dial, then set it to speaker for Atlas' benefit. The phone rang once, twice, then was picked up by a cheerful and feminine "Ciao!" Nikolas rolled his eyes and muttered, "You're way too energetic."
"Yes, well, it's not my fault you're a self-imposed insomniac that sleeps all day." He stuck his tongue out at the phone, earning a chuckle from the other side. "I can practically hear you sticking your tongue out, Nico. Anyway, what's up?"
He glanced over at Atlas and smiled as he spoke, "I'm on my way over to the studio, so gather the other parasites. I've got a surprise." He winced at the excited squeal he got.
"Oh mio Dio, I can't wait. I have a surprise for you, too! I can't wait to see your face, because knowing you, you didn't listen to him." Nikolas furrowed his brows and looked back down at the phone.
"Listen to who?"
"No one~" she sang, the grin clear in her voice, "I'll get everyone and meet you at the studio. Don't be late." He didn't have the chance to say goodbye before the call was cut.
Atlas happily listened to their conversation, giggling quite a bit. He absolutely loved Nikolas and the female on the line's relationship, they seemed to close. He was excited to meet Nikolas' friends and the person on the other side of the line seemed excited and that just made him feel even better about it. "In that case we should get going for real this time, yeah?"
Nikolas laughed softly and put his phone in his back pocket. "Yeah, we should. That was Tess, by the way. She's… a handful." He shook his head with yet another eye roll as he thought about all the mischief she gets into and how many times he had to keep her from doing anything stupid. Nikolas tipped his head to the side and held out his hand for Atlas, lips tilting up at the corner. "Ready?"
Atlas smiled, nodding. He took Nikolas' hand without any hesitation and laced their fingers. "Yup!" He took the packs of pop-tarts and handed one to Nikolas so that they could head out. It was pretty late in the morning and the sun was shining through all the windows, it was honestly beautiful. Atlas loves morning sun quite a bit, it's just friendlier to him.
Nikolas grabbed the other pack that Atlas handed to him, then hooked his car keys around his pinky finger as they passed the stand where he put them. "I'm not sure about the surprise Tess has for me," he murmured as he opened the front door for them both, eyes drifting off to think about who she could've meant by 'didn't listen to him.' There were so many people that Nikolas knew, both male and female, it was hard to figure out who he could've not listened to.
"Well, it can't be something bad, right?" Atlas asked, looking up at Nikolas. As they got outside, he took a deep breath of the fresh air. The morning was always a good time. It's a new start and everything seems to be flourishing at that time. It was even better where they were, the air was clear and not polluted in the slightest.
"If she's that excited about it," Nikolas mused with a slight wince, "it's debatable." The wince turned into a soft laugh, and he tugged Atlas closer to sneak a kiss to his cheek while he savored the fresh air. "I guess we'll see. Hopefully she'll be too distracted by you to do anything potentially 'bad' as a surprise." Then again, if the twins were there, then Cinthia would probably prevent anything stupid being done. Probably. Depends on her mood and how bored she is.
Atlas giggled. "Well, we'll just have to see. I hope your friends like me… I mean I don't know why they wouldn't. But I'm still a little nervous." He said softly, leaning his head on Nikolas' shoulder. If Nikolas' friends didn't like him, he would end up feeling kind of bad about being his boyfriend. He wouldn't want him to feel like he had to choose between friends or Atlas. Of course, Atlas was thinking too deep into it so he tried, with little results, to not worry about it.
Nikolas glanced down at Atlas, then let go of his hand to wrap his arm around his boyfriend's waist, holding him close. "They'll love you, Atlas. They don't dislike people right off the bat, just keep them a couple of yards away so they don't get hurt. I highly doubt they'll do that to you, though. You don't give off those sorts of vibes," he added with a soft smile. "Plus, talk music with most of them, and you'll be their best friend forever."
Atlas smiled up at Nikolas. That did make him feel better, however, he was still a little nervous. He pushed it back and tried not to worry about it anymore. "Thank you, that does make me less nervous… But let's go before they get angry at us for being too late." He said, giggling a little at the end. He looked back at the treehouse, smiling, as they headed to Nikolas' car.
Tugging Atlas towards the passenger side of the car, Nikolas hummed with a smile. "Would it make you feel better if I tell you that they're even worse with their impulses than you are?" he asked jokingly, letting go of his boyfriend's hand to open the door for him. "Probably why I'm more tolerant of it than most people." He didn't want Atlas to be nervous, but it was reasonable for him to be. He was meeting new people that were practically Nikolas' family. Even Nik was nervous about the surprise Tess had for him.
"Ahh, I heavily doubt that… but I guess I'm gonna have to believe you since you know both them and me pretty well." Atlas said, smiling as he sat down in the passenger seat. He looked at the treehouse through the window. He was still blown away by it and he still didn't want to leave it. That was one of the best nights he's had in a while.
Nikolas laughed softly, then leaned down to press a kiss to the side of Atlas' head. "You'll see when you meet them." He then stood up and closed the door before rounding the car and sliding into the driver's seat. "The studio isn't too far. This place is about halfway between where I used to live and where I currently live, so it shouldn't be that long of a drive," he told the other, starting the car and twisting around to watch where he was going as he backed up, the heel of his palm steering the wheel.
Atlas nodded, smiling as he watched Nikolas go around to the driver's seat. He watched as the treehouse shrunk in the window. "Great! I'm really excited." He said. He had left his phone in the car overnight, so he picked it up and checked the messages and missed calls. His mood instantly dropped, there were many, many missed calls and texts from both the manager and the producer. Atlas just looked at his phone for a second, not looking at the texts or listening to voicemails. He let out a small breath and powered off his phone, setting it down again.
Nikolas glanced over at Atlas, assessed his sudden change in mood, and wordlessly reached out and laced their fingers together as he turned back towards the front and turned the car around to leave the treehouse and head back to the main road. He had a feeling that he knew what caused the sudden shift in his mood, but he wouldn't bring it up or point it out. Instead, he opted for asking a different sort of question. "What do you know of Theresa Hunt, from the public?"
((Rough overview of her: dancer, model, pop-ish singer, brash, strong-minded, has a Youtube channel where she interacts with fans–live QnA's–and showcases dance videos))
Atlas smiled a little, glancing at their fingers for a second. He then thought about Nikolas' question, looking at the scenery go by out the window. "Hmm, well I've seen some of her dance videos and she's really good at it. Um, I've heard some of her music, first on the radio and I didn't know it was her for a while. It's all but impossible that I've seen her on a magazine cover or an ad or something. But I can't put my finger on it." He explained. A face wasn't coming to mind right away, but he knew the second he saw her he'd know who it was.
Nikolas smiled faintly. "So basically everything but the she-devil I had to grow up with, gotcha," he said with a hint of a laugh. He ran his thumb over Atlas' knuckles in a soothing back and forth pattern. "I doubt you've heard anything about the twins. They might be two of the four kids of some pretty powerful business owners, but most of what they do is hush-hush and well-placed, thinly-veiled threats when needed. They're usually more tactful with their words though, and can get the right message across pretty easily without resorting to that."
Atlas nodded as he listened to Nikolas, giggling once or twice. He thought it was kind of an interesting group of friends that Nikolas had, but he was still excited to meet them. Maybe he'd actually have some friends, for the first time since high school. And most of his friends at that time were toxic anyway. Slowly, some houses were starting to come into sight as they got closer to the city. A smile rested on Atlas' face as they continued on the road.